123, Lot: 224. Estimate $200. Sold for $225. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TRAJAN. 98-117 AD. Æ Sestertius (34mm, 25.79 g). Struck circa 116-117 AD. Laureate and draped bust right / Trajan standing right, holding spear and parazonium; on ground, reclining figures of Armenia, Euphrates and Tigris. RIC II 642; Cohen 39. Near VF, green patina, minor roughness.

From the Rudolf Berk Collection.

Beginning in 114 AD, Trajan began his campaign against Parthia. The immediate cause of the war was the situation in Armenia, a strategic and semi-independent kingdom which acted as an important buffer between the two empires. Parthia's deposition of the pro-Roman king of Armenia with one that was pro-Parthian upset the tenuous balance and thereby threatened Syria's wealthy cities. Trajan's campaign againt Armenia was swift and decisive; by 115 AD, Armenia had been absorbed as a Roman province. To secure the eastern frontier, he then moved southward through Mesopotamia, capturing the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, in 116 AD, bringing the "Cradle of Civilization" under Roman control. The reverse type on this coin is a direct allusion to Trajan's conquering of Mesopotamia, and is also interesting in that its personifications correspond to the actual geography of the region.